After fraud claims, RNC fires voter-registration group that also worked for Romney camp

The
Republican National Committee has fired a controversial consulting firm
it was paying millions of dollars to conduct voter registration in five
battleground states, NBC News has learned.

The
move came after the Palm Beach County elections supervisor discovered
108 potentially fraudulent registration forms submitted by the GOP
consulting firm, including suspected phony signatures and home addresses
that matched those of a gas station, a medical building and a Land
Rover dealership.

While
Republican groups as a whole are still outspending Democratic groups,
the gap is narrowing, in part to the individual donors finally stepping
up on the Democrats' behalf. NBC News' Michael Isikoff discusses.

Strategic
Allied Consulting, a firm run by veteran GOP consultant Nathan Sproul,
had been retained by the RNC and state Republican parties to register
new Republican voters in five key battleground states, said Sean Spicer,
communications director for the RNC.

But
Spicer said that the party's relationship with the firm -- which has
been paid $2.9 million by the RNC so far this year, according to federal
elections records -- has now been terminated in light of alleged voter
fraud, linked to one of the firm's employees, that was reported this
week to Florida prosecutors by election officials in Palm Beach
County.

"We've
made it clear we're not doing business with these guys anymore," said
Spicer. "We've come out pretty strong against this kind of stuff -- and
we have zero tolerance for this."

Another
firm run by Sproul, called Lincoln Strategy Group, has been paid about
$80,000 by the Romney campaign to conduct "field consulting," according
to election records. Asked for comment, Sarah Pompei, a spokeswoman for
the Romney campaign, said by email: "We used this vendor for signature
gathering services during the primary but have not used them since
2011."More here